Kid Power

The Brooklyn Children's Museum was the world’s first museum for children. It has been open since 1899 and on September 20th 2008, became the first green museum in New York City.

For the last forty years, the museum has had an exciting underground extension which has been the ideal place for arranging all different kinds of exhibits. Children’s ideas are important to the museum and children have helped to plan museum exhibits for a large part of its history.

One of the best exhibits is Neighborhood Nature, which allows kids to explore the different natural habitats found in New York City from woodland fields to ocean tide pools. It is also one of just a few children’s museums with a permanent collection, containing nearly 30,000 natural-history specimens and cultural objects like Egyptian scarabs and carnival masks.

The museum’s teen programme offers work-based learning experiences through museum internships, as well as college preparation and cultural arts workshops. Teenagers can develop the skills they need for high school and college success.

America’s second-biggest children's museum, the National Museum of Play has one of the world's largest collections of dolls, toys and games. It opened in 1968 and has been called The Strong since 2010, after the lady who founded the museum, Margaret Woodbury Strong. There are landscapes inspired by books like Harry Potter, Nancy Drew and Grimm's Fairytales to explore. There are also over 40 current or classic computer and video games. In the National Toy Hall of Fame, kids can play with toys that have stood the test of time, from LEGOs and Hula Hoops to Slinkys and hundreds of Barbie dolls.